Studio Time

I had a good day today, it was really sunny and hot and it was also mine and Sean's 9th wedding anniversary, and I'm making time to work on my photo show that I'm doing soon with Susan at Antidote Coffee .
I was busy chopping up photos and listening to a good program on BBC Radio, where the DJ Gideon Coe was playing  an hour each of 1979, 1980,1981, so I just had to email him to ask him to play some Specials for me.

 I was more than excited when he mentioned that 'Carole in Texas wants me to play the Specials'!

I never actually heard the song, because I was in and out, but it was nice to get a mention.

Friday Friend Feature- Janet Maxwell

I've decided to do a feature every Friday on a creative friend, this week its Janet Maxwell.

I've known Janet since we were at Camberwell Art College in London, doing a ceramics degree.

Janet is constantly making things, she's into knitting and painting right now, has a show of her paintings on in Whitstable, she may also have something to do with Knitstable, although I can't be sure about that!

Her house is amazing, airy and light, she has such a knack with colour, and her garden has been newly done by her Landscape Architect son, Adam.

She came to visit me recently in Texas and brought these fantastic faceclothes that she knitted, I love them!


I don't have any photos of her paintings, but you should check them out on her website

Antler Magazine

I have an interview in Antler Mag on line, you can see it here

I made more cactus gardens, and sent the first one yesterday, via UPS, to Rhonda, hope it gets there ok.

Want to put some in my shop, but unsure on shipping charges, need to work on that.

Entering Paradise

If you havn't been to Indian Summer Lodge in Houston, you should go.

Its a fantastic paradise garden and home that has been created by Jeff River Law.

Its filled with old painted chairs, little vignettes everywhere, unusual plants and arrangements, private seating areas, like a series of outdoor rooms, water, bamboo, tree houses and more.

 So much to look at.

At the moment it can be rented out for weddings and events, but Jeff is selling the place , so hurry down there to see it before you can't anymore.

I would buy it if I could get a big loan and I didn't have my own space to create already.

I can only hope mine will turn out half as good.

What an inspiration!

Mother's Day

Happy Mothers day

to all you mothers out there

 the day always reminds me of daffodils

Cactus Pots

I had this idea last week that I would make my bowls more functional by combining my love of plants, and making miniature indoor (or outdoor) gardens.

Today I got my self a drill bit to make holes in the bottoms of the ceramic pieces and it worked, I didn't crack anything, just made holes in the bottom which are needed for drainage.Then I planted them all up and added a few stones to the top

I used a couple of pieces I made and some that I had bought from the thrift store. These are the results....

Collette Patterns

I just saw this pattern for a great skirt, I want one! Shame I can't sew.
Can anyone make it for me?
Maybe a trade could take place?
Anyway, if you want to take a look at it all , here is where you'll look

collection of thrifted mugs

collection of thrifted mugs
Originally uploaded by mccheek

this is my collection of thrifted mugs and some of my own, with the Britney paintings Sean made for me

love that tiger

love that tiger
Originally uploaded by mccheek

my Studio

yellow
Originally uploaded by mccheek

I took photos of my studio the other day, I always like looking at other peoples studio's , so maybe yo will be intersted in seeing mine.
not done much work in it for a while, had visitors, but will be getting back in there this week, got lots of new ideas

McCheek's Mayhem Magnets

MM Magnets
Originally uploaded by mccheek

I've been really getting into making these melted plastic magnets.
I make them while I watch Tv, its hard to do when the cats sitting on my knee, but I do my best to balance them.
I am in the middle of making rainbow ones too, they'll be in the shop soon.

NinaINvorm

I really like NinaInvorm's blog , there is so much on it, and she is such an inspiration, ceramics, screen printing, collage , photos and interiors.

I got another good feature on another blog recently, Apartment Therapy , glad two people let me know because I would never have known

Julia Potts Illustration

I've been looking at stuff on flickr and found this girl, Julia Potts whose illustrations i really like, she has done these tea towels for To Dry For.

Bamboo Tiki Pond

its a wet cold day here today and its Friday  the 13th too

but some good things have happened already!

1. its raining, so the bamboo is getting some much needed water

2. i got two mentions on different blogs- The Constant Gatherer and Melissa Loves

3. Tammy's tree is still flowering- its a pink orchid tree i grew from seed and planted the day she ( our one eyed tabby cat) had her eye operation

 4. and last but not least I have made a  Bamboo Tiki Pond- made from our bamboo from the garden

Green Show @ Hello Lucky

I have some of my doggy plates and Holga photos at the Green Show at Hello Lucky this month.

The dog plates are vintage with vintage ceramic decals , fired on by me!

The animals are by Rene Cruz.

mention on the radio

i've been sitting in my studio tonight listening to bbc radio, to Janice Long , who was one of my favourite female dj's when i was a teenager, who has the most comforting voices.

well, i decided to send her an email, and she said hi on air to me about half an hour later!

probably my first time on the radio

the latest work that I refired didn't work, so i feel like i've wasted alot of valuable time, but i now have some advice on what steps i should take for it not to happen next time

to cheer me up i took a pic of my fridge door, which has fresh pics on it

new work

I've been making loads of mugs and cups and bowls recently, but when i got them out of the kiln all glazed, there were bits of glaze all peeling off, not good, and rather frustrating.

so i'm off to lisa's again today to try refiring them to save them, keeping my fingers crossed that it'll work.

On a  better note, I got featured in the Editors Picks on Etsy last week with one of my mugs and also on another blog- Soolip

Houstonist Photo of the Day

I got one of my Holga photos on the Houstonist site as 'Photo of the Day' yesterday, chuffed about that

Love Cups

Love Cups
Originally uploaded by mccheek

fresh out of the kiln and just uploaded these to my shop, the gold decals are all super and shiny!

cuddling and checking emails

cuddling and checking emails, originally uploaded by mccheek.

wondering if this will appear cut off, doing an experiment, as blogging from flickr isn't really working too well

Holga Sunflowers

sunflowers, originally uploaded by mccheek.

I've spent quite a bit of time today scanning the negatives from my latest holga film,and now I've uploaded them onto flickr I just recently got the scanner, and I have to say its not my thing, its too fiddly and hard to not get dust and finger prints on the negatives, I can see why HPI charge so much!
I'll persevere with it though, hopefully it will get easier.

New year's resolution

Happy New Year to everyone

This is the start of me making more work, not wasting time, not that I sit around that often, but Focusing on the good stuff! like getting more of my own work made, getting the garden to look better and continuing to fix up the house!

Now i've written this for all to see, I have to actually stick to it!

Oh and I got a mention in a lovely blog called HELLO-TIGER recently, from Sweden, I coudn't understand what she was saying though. But the other pics were things that I liked too

I liked her logo, made up of sign letters, tried to copy it in here, but can't figure that one out